Chapter 2

A past 'acquaintance'

Delphine stood in the doorway of the visitation room and stared at the man in front of her.

A tall frame sat comfortably on a small white chair that could barely contain his massive body. Dressed in all black from head to toe, as if he were from or would be attending a funeral. There was nothing normal about this man.

But Delphine already knew this, because she knew who he was even before she entered the room, and it was all thanks to his scent.

"You?" she muttered.

"Yes, me. Surprised? Or perhaps disappointed?" The dulcet tone of his voice was just as tempting as she remembered.

Delphine snapped out of her haze and slowly approached her visitor. Achlys had kept his eyes glued to hers, not blinking even for a second. Only when Delphine had sat down across from him did his gaze finally leave her. They then fell upon the security guard.

"Excuse us." His words were intended to sound polite, but his tone was anything but.

Once the guard had left them alone, Achlys' eyes shifted to Delphine once more, and there they stayed for a while. The silence in the room only added to the tension that had started with their eye contact.

Delphine stared back into Achlys' amber eyes; they were just as magnetic as she remembered. Always so tempting, but always impossible to read.

"So..." he finally spoke again, crossing one leg over the other. "This is what the heiress has been up to"

As pleasantly seductive as his voice was, Delphine did not appreciate Achlys' mocking. It was just one of several things that she remembered despising about him.

"And you, son of a nobody? What have you been up to?" She quickly retorted, garnering a chuckle from him.

"This and that, nothing too special," Achlys replied, unfazed

"I have a hard time believing that you, of all people, haven't been up to anything"

"Why is that?"

"Because it doesn't sound like the Achlys I know"

Delphine's response prompted Achlys to lean forward, shortening the distance between them.

"The Achlys you know? Which Achlys do you know?"

So much time had passed since Delphine last saw him, but one thing never changed: the air of unease that surrounded him. Only he was capable of drawing her in and scaring her away at the same time.

"Why are you here, Achlys?" 

"Can't I visit an old acquaintance?"

"You're 8 years late"

"Better late than never"

Delphine furrowed her eyebrows as her uneasiness quickly turned into irritation. Before his visit, she had already received some very upsetting news and was in no mood for games, especially not from the likes of him.

"Well, you've seen me. Thank you so much for visiting; you can leave now."

As Delphine got to her feet, ready to leave, his gentle hands stopped her midway.

"Were you always this temperamental?"

"Were you always this insensitive? Let go!" She attempted to break free, but Achlys would not release her.

"I really do have something to say"

"Then say it, damn it!"

Delphine sternly looked at Achlys, only to see his eyes were beaming. For whatever reason, he found amusement in her anger, but she was in no mood to entertain his foolishness.

"Sit down first; I won't play any more games, I promise"

Perhaps it was that she hadn't had a visitor in so long, or perhaps it was because she knew Achlys from long ago. Whatever it was, it convinced Delphine to sit back down and listen to what he had to say.

"Are you calm?"

Silence was Delphine's response.

Achlys ran his long fingers through his slightly tousled hair and sighed.

"Of the places I expected you to be, a maximum-security prison wasn't one of them"

"That makes two of us"

"You being here was shocking enough, but the reason... Now that's what I didn't expect"

Delphine squinted her eyes slightly at Achlys

"If I remember correctly, back then, you were such a daddy's girl. No one could even make a joke about him in your presence. For you to be the one who-"

"What's your point?" Delphine immediately interrupted Achlys. The conversation was taking a turn she did not like. 

Achlys cleared his throat. "My point is, I was shocked to find out what happened to you, so much so that I decided to visit you for the truth"

Delphine stared blankly at Achlys, as if he had just said something difficult to understand.

"What?" 

"I want the truth, or rather, your truth"

"Don't you think you're a little too late for that? 8 years, to be precise"

"When it comes to the truth, it's never too late"

Delphine looked intently at Achlys, who was casually lounging in a chair too small for him. His deadpan face made it hard for her to know whether he was mocking her or being serious.

"And what good would that do you? What would you gain from knowing my truth, huh?"

Achlys quietly stared at Delphine as she spoke.

"Honestly, it really does just feel like you're here to mock me, but I can't understand why. Whatever we had ended years ago, so why come visit me now just to mock me? I never knew you could be so petty"

The room fell into a deep silence after Delphine had finished speaking. The two remained looking at each other, both with their convoluted thoughts in mind.

Delphine could not, for the life of her, understand why Achlys, of all people, would be the one to visit her, and so many years after their story together ended. He was always a tough man to understand, but even then, there was always a method to his madness. At that moment, though, she couldn't think of one.

"Your time in this place has reduced your already minimal trust to zero..." Achlys spoke, shattering the uncomfortable silence with his sonorous voice.

"True, but I never fully trusted you to begin with"

A smile slowly formed on Achlys' lips in response to Delphine's indifference.

"That's a shame, because I can't help you if you won't trust me"

Delphine raised an eyebrow. "Help?" she repeated.

Leaning forward in his seat, Achlys once again closed the distance between them. This time, his face was mere inches away from hers. Every hair on Delphine's body raised in response to their proximity.

"I want to get you out of here"

Delphine blinked once in astonishment.

"Huh?"